new member, first post.

[sondat]

I definatley think the full frame is a benefit and these trucks are cool just at cruising speed, well also add shoulder belts to the equation. My son is defiantly into his studies with exams right now d.p. so he hasn’t had as much time on the truck lately but as mentioned before he has put a lot of hours in over the last 2.5 years. I’m pressing on cause I can’t wait for us to hit the road this summer. Read most of your build thread mainer311, impressive, truck looks great. Found the talk about the idle cut solenoid, still need to dive into DanielC’s thread. Clear on doing away with both emissions relays, think I’ll start laying harness in, get carb bolted on and then do some more research and head scratching.

[datzenmike]

There's something to be said for older cars and trucks.  You are soooo removed there is hardly any experience when driving today's vehicles. They just get you there as fast and smoothly as possible. Hell the gas pedal isn't even connected to the throttle anymore, you can't even feel the road, you're too comfortable and really there's nothing much to do. When something goes wrong about all you can do is check the rad and kick a tire.  Old cars make you work, keep you involved, they 'talk' to you, you feel the road, there's feedback, everything you do has purpose and if you make a mistake there isn't much of a safety net to catch you. . 

[sondat]

datzenmike that last entry of yours is damn near a poem, take you long to come up with that? Lol. Very true, I was on a work trip last week, rented a car not knowing what it would be till pickup time. 2019 Nissan non the less, it was a Qashqai and like you said about the new cars, it flashes lights in the cabin when someone’s pulling up beside you and beeps at you if you wander over a road line. This next generation wont have the ability to actually drive a car, the car does it for you. God I’m sounding old.

[greenthumb]

good call on the shoulder belts. Lap belt only in a 521 no buena in a collision- ask me how I know.

Does your truck have the captive nuts in the B pillar already?

I'd be embarrassed to tell you how many hours I just spent adding retractable shoulder belts to mine. Mine did not have the captive nut in the pillar, just the stamped area where they would go. Spent a bit of time head scratching how to get them in there in an elegant way.

Very happy with the end result though.

Edited January 22, 2019 by greenthumb

[mikec4193]

7 hours ago, datzenmike said:

There's something to be said for older cars and trucks.  You are soooo removed there is hardly any experience when driving today's vehicles. They just get you there as fast and smoothly as possible. Hell the gas pedal isn't even connected to the throttle anymore, you can't even feel the road, you're too comfortable and really there's nothing much to do. When something goes wrong about all you can do is check the rad and kick a tire.  Old cars make you work, keep you involved, they 'talk' to you, you feel the road, there's feedback, everything you do has purpose and if you make a mistake there isn't much of a safety net to catch you. . 

This should be posted on every old car forum on the internet...the sad part is...most of these younger folk don't want to know anything except can they text and drive at the same time..and that and they always need to go around you so they can turn in front of you...

 

MikeC

[Charlie69]

I use the 1980 720 harnesses on my 520/521 builds if I am running an L motor.  This upgrades the fuse box to an ATC blade fuse and puts the fuse box inside the cab on the driver's side kick panel.  It takes some time to mod the harness (remove circuits that are not needed and re pin the wiper and headlamp plugs but using this harness has the benefit of being wired for the matchbox distributor, no computer,  has AC circuit and does not have electric fuel pump circuit.

 

 

[datzenmike]

I make the odyssey to Canby every year then up to Calgary and then take the long way home. There is no other time when I feel so alive and almost all if that is from driving an old car.  Just me and wits, my car and an atlas. Sometimes 12 hours at a time stopping only for gas and piss breaks. Once a year this way, I get to try and burn out from driving... but it's elusive. There used to be a phrase "the perfect melding of man and machine"  to describe the driver/car union of perfect harmony. I doubt this happens much these days.      

[sondat]

Hey greenthumb, there is the flat stamped areas for the shoulder belt attachment but no existing captive nuts, so our 521 sounds the same as yours was.

[greenthumb]

Not sure, but I think 72 was the first year the captive nuts were installed from the factory. 

Truck is looking great!

[Charlie69]

1972 Is the only year 521 that has a 3 point (shoulder harness) seat belt.

[datzenmike]

Had a '71 and there was a clearly marked location for the shoulder belts but... nothing.

[mklotz70]

There were several things that changed mid year as the 521 went along.  The early '70 does not door lock pulls, but the door panel is stamped for one(no hole).  I'd have to look at Paula's 521 to see if the shoulder mounts are stamped into the B pillars or not....I don't think it does.  Been awhile since I've even looked at the truck.  The late '70 521's had the door lock pulls and the B pillar stamping.....if I remember right.  Anyway.....some of the features like that didn't directly correlate with the model year.  

[greenthumb]

my 70 must be a late one then. It had the stampings for the shoulder belts and the lock pulls

[sondat]

Have done some more reading about wring up the electric choke and idle cut solenoid to our original 521 harness. So I understand they need a switched 12 volt source, also read it should be fused. I’ll trace out on the schematic but believe there’s a couple fused/switched circuits to tap into. So I could tap just one lead into the fused/switched circuit, run to the carb and tie to both choke and solenoid leads? I see a choke heater relay on the 620 wiring schematics, is this not required with the electric choked hitachi carb?

[datzenmike]

Yours is a '71? So no  idle cut and no electric choke in the harness wiring. You could tap both into the ignition circuit that's right there. I don't know how much the choke and idle cut draw , not much I would guess but no fuse to blow from the ignition.

[sondat]

Any thoughts on my last post about the choke heater relay that is shown in the 620 schematic. Would it be required to incorporate into my 521 harness since were adding the electric choke or is just the switched power source fine?

 

 

This plate is positioned between carb and manifold, am I right in thinking it is a heat shield? should we re install or did it go hand in hand with all the emissions crap we removed?

 

Edited January 29, 2019 by sondat

[sondat]

Last question for the evening, promise. The pushrod that runs horizontally under the electric choke, is it just a damper? 

 

 

 

Edited January 29, 2019 by sondat

[sondat]

A while back we ordered new tail lights off of e-bay, TS Motor brand from China, what crap. The lenses are a cheap plastic that is so brittle they were broken on arrival and check out the bulb shield/dividers made out of aluminum cans.

 

 

 

 

So we did use the housings with new sockets but cleaned up and salvaged the original lenses with bulb dividers.

 

 

Also had to re build the tail light harness by cutting old wiring and connectors off that ran across back of truck (tail light to tail light) and splice in new leads and connectors. Only had white and black wiring so we tapped a small piece of the old colour coded wiring to the new ends to keep track for proper connections to original harness.

 

 

 

Got third and final harness into truck and tail lights all connected with new rear valance installed.

 

 

 

 

Edited February 7, 2019 by sondat

[Stoffregen Motorsports]

That's one for the books. Beer cans in the tail lights...

 

I'm sure you are familiar with the old British-car-leaking-oil thing, right? Well, turns out, there was a scandal going on with the gasket makers at the time. Some gaskets were even made out of newspaper with print still on them. Similar to your beer can tail lights.

[datzenmike]

I have a L series oil pump, water pump,  thermostat housing and cover gasket... all made from Cheerios cereal box...... shrug

[wayno]

Cereal boxes are great for gaskets. :)

[Charlie69]

There is no reason to splice old connectors to new wiring when you can purchase new connectors from Vintage Connections.

 

Vintage Connections

[sondat]

Didn’t splice old connectors to new wiring. Cut tail light portion of old harness off then spliced, soldered and used heat shrink to replace old ratty wiring with new wiring. Used small pieces of the old harness as a short term labeling method to keep track of new wiring until they were connected to proper bulb.

[sondat]

Thanks Charlie69 for the link to vintage connections, like that option better than the squeeze on connections we went with from the new bulb socket tails to new wiring in harness.

[Charlie69]

They also sale the barrel crimping tool for their connectors.  They are a small mom & pop shop and I believe they only accept PayPal Payments.

Edited February 11, 2019 by Charlie69